3o6 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



at variance. To give an example of this, Went has lately 

 described two very distinct cane diseases in Java. One of 

 these he calls the " pine-apple disease," because of the smell 

 of the canes attacked ; and he ascribes it to the presence of 

 a fungus which he has named Tkielaviop^is ethaceticus} 

 The other, which he terms " Het Rood Snot," he traces to 

 a totally distinct fungus, Colleiotrichiun falcatuiii} Massee, 

 examining specimens of diseased canes sent from Barbados 

 and St. Vincent, and experimenting with sugar-cane plants 

 growing in Kew Gardens, has described a parasitic fungus 

 Trichosphacria Sacchari as the cause of the existing W^est 

 Indian cane disease called the " rind fungus ".^ He further 

 concludes that Thielaviopsis ethaceticus * and ColletricJntm 

 falatum^ of Went are merely stages in the complicated life- 

 history of Ti'ichospkaeria Sacchari. Went in turn points 

 out that Trichosphacria Sacchari, although probably present 

 in Java, is not at all injurious to the canes there and is 

 merely saprophytic on dead canes. He further disagrees 

 with Massee's conclusions as regards the relationship of 

 these fungi, and lays stress upon the perfectly distinct dis- 

 ease symptoms of Thielaviopsis and Colletotrichum in Java 

 and Trichosphaeria in the West Indies.*^ 



The many papers during the last ten years dealing with 

 " Sereh " furnish us with another case in point. This 

 disease has been attributed by different authors to the most 

 various circumstances. Worn out lands, unfavourable 

 seasons, deep planting, artificial manure, root worms, 

 parasitic fungi, bacteria and many other causes have been 

 cited. Treub ^ and Soltwedel ^ rerard it as a root disease 

 due to Nematodes. Valeton,^ Kriiger^'' and Janse^^ on the 

 other hand regarded the red-coloured fibrovascular bundles 

 as the seat of disease, and the latter especially endeavoured 

 to prove that bactera played the same role in sereh as 

 they do in " gumming ".^^ Benecke ^^ strenuously opposed 

 this view and called to his aid various European specialists^ 



MVent (3). '/^/V/. (4). ^ Massee (i). ^ Ibid. {2). 



^Ibid. (3). 6 Went (5) and (6). " Treub (i). 



8 Soltwedel (i). •' Valeton (i). 10 Kriiger (2). 



iijanse(i). ^'- Ibid. {2). ^^ Meded. Ost.-Java. 



